Bugs

On exhibit at Central Library, August – September 2015

Reception: Saturday, Aug. 8 from 3:00 – 5:00 p.m., First Floor Meeting Room.

Naturalist/photographer Judy Gallagher and visual artist Steve Crossett explore the beauty and variety of the insect world through macro photography and charcoal and pastel renderings.

Judy’s photography displays in breathtaking detail the amazing structures, colors, and behaviors of these important creatures. Steve uses Judy’s photographs as the basis for his charcoal and pastel drawings. He makes these drawings on crumpled newspaper mounted on foam core. Many of the newspaper pages he uses have stories and/or images related to insects, ecology, and our natural world.

Together they hope to bring awareness to the world around us in its many small and often unnoticed varieties. Through a greater appreciation of the beauty of these creatures, we can start to grasp their critical importance.

Want to buy something you see on our walls? Artists contribute 20% of sales made during their exhibit to the Friends of the Arlington County Public Library, to help support Library programming.

Learn more about Art Exhibits at the Library.

Inspired by Nature

On exhibit at the Columbia Pike Branch Library, July – September 2015

About Klaudia Levin:

I have always loved clay, and I have always loved to work with my hands.

I participated in my first pottery class in Newton Massachusetts about thirteen years ago. Very quickly pottery became a passion, and I spent all my free time on the wheel. After two years at the lovely pottery studio in the New Art Center, I moved on to the Harvard Arts Ceramics Program, where I found great teachers and lifetime friends.

At Harvard I was introduced to reduction firing and soda firing. Mastering these techniques has influenced my art and pot making, from the first moment on the wheel to glazing. I think of the flow from inside a pot to the outside. I think of the relationship of the foot to the rim, and the intangible importance of the weightiness.

Clay is such an amazing material, with inexhaustible possibilities. I started to hand build and alter my forms, and found another door open to create original shapes. With many years of experience and control over the wheel I started to be looser, to think of more shapes and colors, and more about light and negative space.

A well balanced pot lets my eyes move and gives me a feeling of freedom.

When I was introduced to raku and saggar firing, I knew I found my passion. These techniques are fascinating and challenging. The play with fire, color, depths and shapes are endless and brings me every time to a new place with new creation and ideas.

Want to buy something you see on our walls? Artists contribute 20% of sales made during their exhibit to the Friends of the Arlington County Public Library, to help support Library programming.

Learn more about Art Exhibits at the Library.

Wild Things

On exhibit at Cherrydale, July 1 – August 4

About the Artist

Antonious Peros is a native-born Washingtonian. He started his art education at the Corcoran School of Art in 1972. He also studied drawing and painting at George Washington University and the Art Students’ League of New York. He studied visual communications at the Maryland School of Art and Design (now the Maryland College of Art), graduating in 1976.

Tony, as his friends call him, has studied with many known artists, such as Arthur Smith, Frank Wright at George Washington University, and Gustaw Rayburger at the Students’ Art League of New York. He has exhibited his art work exclusively in the Washington metropolitan area.

Tony worked as a graphic designer for many years with the Federal government; Washington, DC, government; private industry; and as a free-lance artist and illustrator.

Tony’s favorite media are acrylic, pastels, and conté crayon. He has always been interested in drawing. “I believe any art work, if it is going to succeed, has to have a good knowledge of drawing behind it. Every artist should have a good solid drawing background.”

Want to buy something you see on our walls? Artists contribute 20% of sales made during their exhibit to the Friends of the Arlington County Public Library, to help support Library programming.

Learn more about Art Exhibits at the Library.

Northwest Art Takes its Place on the World Stage

On exhibit at Central Library, July – August 2015

About the Art

“Northwest art has no stylistic relatives among other North American cultures (at least not yet – what archeologists will uncover in the future is unknown). However, we do see related art forms along the Pacific Rim: Maori of New Zealand and Ainu, an indigenous people of Japan are two examples that still exist, as well as the jade objects and stylized animals of the 3,000 year old Shang and Zhou dynasties, and the carved gourds from Huaca Prieta along the Peruvian coast, which date from five thousand years ago.

“Yet nowhere else in the world is the formline with the “vibrant stillness” of the ovoid found. It belongs exclusively to the Northwest coast following the arboreal rainforest from Washington State to Alaska and all the islands in between – especially Haida Gwaii where the art form reached its zenith. The map accompanying this exhibit indicate the native nations the native nations that contribute to this rich culture.

“What formline art strives to achieve is best said in Harda: “Likkyann isgyan sagwa isgyann Taongghwan xhaaida ghai,” that which include the creatures of the forest, sky and sea – the real spirits of the world. Humans are merely “xhaaidla xhitit giidai,” or common surface dwellers.

“Arranged in very deliberate orders, these creatures carved into tall cedar poles represent the heraldry akin to European shields and banners. And ovoids, U forms, S forms and L forms serve the same ornamental purpose as the carved lilies, scallops and fleur-de-lies of European art.”

About the Artist

Elbert Bernard Pair was born in Norwalk, CT, the third of four children in a blue collar family. His parents were Black southerners, part of the second wave of 20th Century Blacks whose stories were vividly captured in Isabel Wilkerson’s prize winning nonfiction, “The Warms of Other Suns.” He exhibited musical aptitude at an early age, and became a Jazz and Blue musician.

Years later while visiting Vancouver Canada, he got his first personal look at Northwest Art. It did for his eyes what music had done for his ears, and he knew he wanted to be part of it. The following year found him in Haida Gwaii, living on the “Rez,” studying carving and formline art with the great Reggie Davidson.

Want to buy something you see on our walls? Artists contribute 20% of sales made during their exhibit to the Friends of the Arlington County Public Library, to help support Library programming.

Learn more about Art Exhibits at the Library.

Lovesong

On exhibit at the Columbia Pike Branch Library, June – August 2015.

 “She goes, she is, she wakes the waters…”

Want to buy something you see on our walls? Artists contribute 20% of sales made during their exhibit to the Friends of the Arlington County Public Library, to help support Library programming.

Learn more about Art Exhibits at the Library.

On exhibit at Central Library, June – July 2015

George Hermance has received his design training at the College of Landscape Architecture at the University of Georgia. A native of New York, Hermance has gathered much of his inspiration traveling in the Caribbean, Latin America and throughout the US. He has studied under the guidance of renowned watercolor artists i.e. Gwendolyn C Bragg, Tony van Hasselt and Sterling Edwards. Hermance continues studying watercolor art, a transparent medium that provides new discoveries with each new painting.

Want to buy something you see on our walls? Artists contribute 20% of sales made during their exhibit to the Friends of the Arlington County Public Library, to help support Library programming.

Learn more about Art Exhibits at the Library.

View Up Close

On exhibit at the Central Library, June – July 2015

Artist Statement:

Miniature paintings are often defined as being minute in scale versus life size. These paintings need to be viewed up close in order to see the vivid colors and detail of scenes such as a Paris, France, flower market; an entranceway to a restaurant in Santorini, Greece; and an old fashioned wooden bridge in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Although they are small works, they take an excruciating amount of time to paint because of scaling to size and getting the details right. I hope the viewer enjoys the painting as much as I enjoyed creating it!

Want to buy something you see on our walls? Artists contribute 20% of sales made during their exhibit to the Friends of the Arlington County Public Library, to help support Library programming.

Learn more about Art Exhibits at the Library.